Rahal surges to first pole since 2017 at Indy Road Course

“I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids, can’t whatever.”

That was one of the first sentences out of the mouth of Graham Rahal after he clinched the pole for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His first since 2017 and the fourth of his career, this pole marks a big comeback for the Ohio native after he was the sole driver bumped during qualifying for the Indy 500 in May.

Backing up Rahal on the front row is RLL teammate Christian Lundgaard, down one spot from the GMR Grand Prix in May where he grabbed his first career pole. Fellow Rahal driver Jack Harvey completed an impressive outing for the Ohio-based outfit, missing out on the top five by just a few tenths by qualifying in eighth. Speaking on his team’s positive performance, Lundgaard said “Every time we come to this racetrack, we know we’ll be able to fight for a win. Now we’ve just given ourselves two chances.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment/Courtesy of IndyCar

Arrow McLaren and Andretti Autosport showed out during qualifying as well, with Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward putting their papaya orange cars in third and fourth for the McLaren outfit, and Devlin DeFrancesco flying to a career-best qualifying spot in fifth, followed by Andretti teammate Romain Grosjean.

Championship leader Alex Palou is set to roll off in ninth on Saturday afternoon, his third-lowest (or highest, whatever way you look at it) qualifying position of the season. His closest rival, Josef Newgarden had a rough practice in the morning and arguably a worse qualifying session, condemning the two-time series champion to 19th.

PLACE	DRIVER	NUMBER	TEAM	LAP TIME
1	Graham Rahal	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:10.1132
2	Christian Lundgaard	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:10.2286
3	Alexander Rossi	7	Arrow McLaren	1:10.2932
4	Pato O’Ward	5	Arrow McLaren	1:10.3453
5	Devlin DeFrancesco	29	Andretti Autosport	1:10.3938
6	Romain Grosjean	28	Andretti Autosport	1:10.4021
7	Marcus Armstrong	11	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.2106
8	Jack Harvey	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:10.2228
9	Alex Palou	10	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.2974
10	Felix Rosenqvist	6	Arrow McLaren	1:10.4389
11	Scott McLaughlin	3	Team Penske	1:10.4782
12	Helio Castroneves	06	Meyer Shank Racing	1:10.5207
13	Colton Herta	26	Andretti Autosport	1:10.4398
14	Linus Lundqvist	60	Meyer Shank Racing	1:10.4570
15	Kyle Kirkwood	27	Andretti Autosport	1:10.4869
16	Scott Dixon	9	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.5006
17	Will Power	12	Team Penske	1:10.5237
18	Marcus Ericsson	8	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.6348
19	Josef Newgarden	2	Team Penske	1:10.6150
20	Rinus VeeKay	21	Ed Carpenter Racing	1:10.7249
21	Santino Ferrucci	14	A.J. Foyt Racing	1:10.6461
22	Ryan Hunter-Reay	20	Ed Carpenter Racing	1:11.0083
23	David Malukas	18	Dale Coyne Racing	1:10.8867
24	Agustin Canapino	78	Juncos Hollinger Racing	1:11.0611
25	Sting Ray Robb	51	Dale Coyne Racing	1:11.5658
26	Callum Ilott	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing	1:11.1027
27	Benjamin Pedersen	55	A.J. Foyt Racing	1:11.2971

You can see the Gallagher Grand Prix live in USA at 2:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. GMT, with the green flag coming at 2:30/6:30.